She Will Do One of Two Things
by countrybutterfly
Summary: based of the 3x02 moment between Catelyn and Talisa. part is the moment. Chapter 2 and on will be a AU of if she had kept her promise.


**Story Title** She Will Do One of Two Things  
**Prologue Title: **Only a Mother Can Make  
**_Titles are subject to change, suggestions welcomed  
_****Author** kosherrainbow (on LJ, and found under imaginaryglory on tumblr)  
**Rating**: G  
**Characters:** Catelyn Stark, Jon Snow  
**Spoilers & Warnings: ** Pre-Canon, TV show based, 3x02 spoiler**  
Disclaimer:** I do not own Game of Thrones, or The lyrics from the Fray's 'How to Save a Life'  
**Author's Notes:** I'm relatively new to Game of Thrones, I have not read the books, so I don't know if this moment was also mentioned in the books, but this in the Television show is taken from the moment between Catelyn and Talisa (who I know isn't the same in the books). This is part one, Part 2 & 3 will be an AU for had she kept her promise.

* * *

Her hands moved swiftly between the pieces binding the figure to the circle. Faint prayers escaped in whispers across her lips. _Sorry…save him…save him…I will love him._ She only took pause from her task to wipe the small child's forehead. The dark brown black ringlets were plastered against the face where his brown eyes were sleeping. His ragged breath, the only measure of their time, the two of them alone in the room

_How could I ever wish such an unkindness on you, Jon. It was not you who wronged me and my pride. And in the morning you will wake and you will have a mother who loves you. I will love you…for your father, for your brother… I will learn to love you._

"Catelyn…" In her reverie she did not notice her husband's presence until spoke, "you must be tired. There's no need for you to lose sleep…" The guilt in his voice made her own guilt deepen. She could not admit to her lord husband how she had wished his son dead just for her own sake. Instead she shook her head and kept her hands working. Ned Stark wasn't quite sure what to make of her dedications. If it had been Robb, he could understand it, but it had been quite clear to even him that she did not, and (understandably, he conceded) never would see his second son in the same lite. Still he was grateful and left the room with a simple kiss against her head leaving the two of them alone. The darkness grew blacker and the breaths became more ragged, quieter, more strained. Her fingers worked faster to finish, her prayers more fervent.

_I take it back-all my hate; I take it all back. Save him…save him….I will see to it he is a Stark. I will be his mother. I will be a mother to him. He will know a mother's love. I promise. I promise. Let him live. Let him live._

Even as her hands finished their work, her lips kept her prayers going on in a chant even as the blackness seemed to go on to the point she wasn't aware the light had begun to break across the horizon. It wasn't until sleep began to truly over take her did the quiet of the room finally strike her. Had she failed? Panic threw off the threat of sleep and she lurched forward in her chair to reach for the child. Her hand felt his head and the greatest of reliefs fell over her as her fingers told her it was warmth she felt, and her ear could now hear his once struggling breath was quieter but growing clearer, not weaker.

"Praise be to all seven Gods." she whispered to the boy, the first real sound in the room since his father had left them to it. She reached once more with her free hand to wipe his forehead and wet his lips to see if he would take a little water. A little hand moved tighter to his chest. In the moment of gratitude, she set the cloth down and moved her hand to meet his. And even in his weakened state the boy wrapped his hand around her thumb.

It was then she realize she still grasped her work in her other hand.

_Only a Mother can make these to keep her children safe._

She looked to the child who had made it through the night. She had promised to be his mother. This thought rang clearly in bother her head and her heart.

_Family. Duty. Honor._

A promise she must keep.


End file.
